by my own startled cry as I felt a hand fall, without
warning, upon my shoulder. It was Thornton. I had never seen his face
as it looked just then.

"Isn't it beautiful--glorious?" he cried softly.

"It's wonderful!" I said. "You won't see this down there, Thornton!"

"Nor hear those sounds," he replied, his hand tightening on my arm.
"We're pretty close to God up here, aren't we? She'll like it--I'll
bring her back!"

"She!" He looked at me, his teeth shining in that wonderful silent
laugh. "I'm going to tell you about it," he said. "I can't keep it in
any longer. Let's go down by the lake."

We walked down and seated ourselves on the edge of a big rock.

"I told you that I came up here because of a woman--and a man,"
continued Thornton. "Well, I did. The man and woman were husband and
wife, and I--"

He interrupted himself with one of his chuckling laughs. There was
something in it that made me shudder.

"No use to tell you that I loved her," he went on. "I worshipped her.
She was my life. And I believe she loved me as much. I might have added
that there was a third thing that drove me up here--what remained of
the rag end of a man's honor."

"I begin to understand," I said, as he paused. "You came up here to get
away from the woman. But this woman--her husband--"

For the first time since I had known him I saw a flash of anger leap
into Thornton's face. He struck his hand against the rock.

"Her husband was a scoundrel, a brute, who came home from his club
drunk, a cheap money-spender, a man who wasn't fit to wipe the mud from
her little feet, much less call her wife! He ought to have been shot. I
can see it, now; and--well, I might as well tell you. I'm going back to
her!"

"You are?" I cried. "Has she got a divorce? Is her husband still
living?"

"No, she hasn't got a divorce, and her husband is still living; but for
all that, we've arranged it. Those were her letters I've been reading,
and she'll be at Prince Albert waiting for me on the 15th--three days
from now. We shall be a little late, and that's why I'm hustling so.
I've kept away from her for two years, but I can't do it any
longer--and she says that if I do she'll kill herself. So there you
have it. She's the sweetest, most beautiful girl in the whole
world--eyes the color of those blue flowers you have up here, brown
hair, and--but you've got to see her when we reach Prince Albert. You
won't blame me for doing all this, then!"

I had no